


Oblivion

by Averia



Series: All It Leaves Is Dust [2]
Category: DCU (Comics), Deathstroke the Terminator (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Other, Pre-New 52, References to Canon, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-03 19:04:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15825063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Averia/pseuds/Averia
Summary: The mark over his heart keeps Dick bound to an unjust fate. None of Batman’s morals can stop Damian and Koriand’r from rectifying the situation and the man himself neither, especially not when they get some more help along the way.





	1. Damian

**Author's Note:**

> Because the story is set in pre-N52, Midnighter has no appearance even though he was suggested. Everyone else made it.
> 
> (Specific warnings will be given if the chapter requires it.)

Damian knows how it feels to be viewed as a mere object. His grandfather does not care for him and his mother's disappointment makes his throat restrict every time he sees her. Her missing love for him is a cold hard fact drilling itself through his heart.

For a long time, Grayson had been the only person able to stop the invisible bleeding. Before his honorable father had turned into a loving one, Grayson had been there. His Batman was the only person he trusted and after all this time Grayson remains the person he trusts the most.

Seeing him as a shadow of himself is terrifying. Damian knows his anger like his own. He knows his disappointment and his fear. The way his mentor is now is beyond reason and Damian hates, hates the shout Alfred gave when he found Grayson in front of their door, sticky with blood and ripping at his skin so completely out of his mind.

He remembers watching as his father and Pennyworth brought him upstairs under pained screams and he remembers the golden gleam of Grayson’s soul mark under the blood and ripped shirt.

Nobody tells him who it was. When he looks for footage nothing is to be found. Grayson does not speak. His eyes are empty.

Weeks go by, Grayson plays his part and Damian begins to hate more.

When his father goes after Deathstroke there is no question as to why.

Of course, he lets him live. There is relief on Grayson's face and everything seems to be good until it starts getting worse. The tiny smiles Damian has gathered over the last few days disappear in the face of the haunted look in Grayson's eyes.

Cain squeezes his shoulder every time he shakes with anger. She is there every time he argues with his father but she is not when he screams at Grayson.

The blue eyes are wide and bare.

"I'm sorry," Grayson whispers as if it really is his fault.

The tears are a slap to his face. Suddenly he does not know why he directed his frustration on his mentor, his friend, his big brother. He does not know how to rectify the situation, how he can even ask for forgiveness from his trembling brother.

Of course, Grayson reaches out and Damian lets his brother cry against his shoulder, memorizes the sound of sucked-in-breath between sobs.

His metal spine prickles with the memory of being controlled by that vile creature. In that moment he swears, he'll kill him if it's the last thing he'll do.


	2. Koriand'r

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the lovely comments. More Pain incoming.

Everyone notices it but not everyone knows. Bruce replaces Dick in the League like he had never been gone far too quickly and when there is no sign of Nightwing on the night sky people start talking.

Kory knows what it means to be a slave. She knows what it means to be betrayed by a person that should love you as you loved them. It is hard to be stripped off of comfort. Sometimes she still dreams of playing hide and seek with her sister in the lush forests of Tamaran.

Rose cannot look anyone in the eyes, barricades herself in her room. Her brother is nowhere to be found.

Kory worries and Raven does too.

When she appears in front of the manor, Alfred lets her in and she falls in front of his bed when she sees Dick. Tears spring to her eyes even though her fellow Titan, the first boy she loved tells her not to cry.

"I have no tears left."

She remembers him cry on more than one occasion. She remembers his despair when he heard Jason had died. This is different. He looks like a tortured man.

Her hands leave burns behind on the floor when she closes her eyes to banish her tears and stands to draw him into her arms.

She has always loved how Dick seems to fit so perfectly against her. Her voice pitches to the higher notes of Tamaranean and Dick smiles, hums the familiar tune under his breath. She hopes it helps just a little. It has quelled both of their fears before.

Bruce sees the burns. He does not see how peaceful Dick sleeps in her embrace. She is told to stay away and her old displeasure returns. Dick loves Bruce and Bruce loves Dick but she knows how much Bruce has hurt Dick over the years and she has never learned to respect the man like she does Diana and Clark.

She has met Damian before but he is more Robin to her than Dick's little brother. Their anger at Batman makes them talk. And talk they do.

 

Of course, Batman locked Deathstroke away in Superman's fortress.


	3. Jason

Damian walks into his prison cell. Jason smirks at the small boy, at the scrunched up face, and at his seething anger.

“Grayson threw you out of the nest? Or do you have enough of the big guy's ignorance?”

A mean smile curves his lips and he leans forward, peering at the littlest Robin between the bars.

His jaw ticks, something he clearly gets from his father instead of Talia.

“You might have a point with the last one.”

No nickname but more anger.  _Ha._  Interesting.

“I could care less about the family drama. Now be gone, demon child.”

He makes a shooing gesture and turns his back to the second replacement.

“Tell me, Todd. Why do you kill?”

Jason rolls his eyes and stretches. The bed is barely in the shadows but he settles down regardless and when he turns the boy is still standing in front of his cell.

“You killed because that is my father’s biggest flaw.”

“I kill,” Jason corrects without meaning to but he listens because he has no other choice. It makes his veins bulge under his skin in irritation.

“I need to kill someone my father won’t.”

His mouth flattens.

“Deathstroke,” he spats out.

Jason laughs and then he laughs more until it echoes loudly all around him. He stops abruptly. It sounds too much like **him.**

“Not interested.”

Going against Deathstroke is insane, even with the kid.

“If this goes on, Grayson will kill himself.”

Jason blinks, the words incomprehensible, and then he freezes, body tensing up.

“What did you just say?”

“Deathstroke killed him and he came back with his soul mark glowing.”

And Dick has always searched, his soul expanding. Jason knows how that feels. He has read the same books, probably more.

Damian talks on but he is not listening. All his senses are tuning the real world out. His vision is fuzzy with anger, his blood rushes in his ears and his heartbeat drums deep under his skin.

Soul bonds are the strongest connection in the galaxy and a soul is more than one’s mind. It is one’s essence. Every being has it, no matter how they call it or to which religion it counts.

Jason remembers the Joker playing with his mind. He remembers being ripped to pieces. He remembers clawing out of the earth, confused and scared and helpless. He remembers grasping for the light and finding it gone.

A bond lost. A soul marred by scars. Something did not come back.

“Where is he now?”

Jason does not care for Dick’s death. He does not care for his estranged brother’s health but he cares for his soul.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It seems I’ll be able to upload every third day. But don’t hold me to it, everyone who reads Persuasion knows I’m a slob.


	4. Roy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Descriptions of Violence

Kory walks into his prison cell.

It is not the visit Roy expects, the visit full of silent stares and probing and questions and quiet stories about Lian.

“You gutted a man because he was responsible for Lian’s death.”

Roy’s gaze snaps up at her, so fast he is momentarily blind.

“I will not force you out of this cell and I do not know how Dick and you ended things but I need your help.”

Lian.

Kory.

Dick.

 _God_ , his little girl loved them both so much.

“For what?”

“ _Vengeance._ ”

Kory is angry and bitter. Her eyes are glowing. And Roy falls against the cold hard wall of his cell while he listens. He can remember feeling the warmth disappear when Lian died, the warmth he had been so surprised to feel when Lian was born. Jade’s biting words, but gentle smile when she had said: _“Makes sense our daughter would choose you over me.”_

He remembers being happy. He remembers being complete. He knows how it feels to get the connection ripped away, the pure terror of losing his daughter magnified by his soul's grievance.

“Slade told me I was no Nightwing. I am glad, that I am not.”

Because it has to be another kind of suffering entirely, to be bound to a soul that hates.

A grin forms on his lips when Kory tells him about their reinforcements, but neither Jason nor Damian have ever fought Slade. They know not how capable he is, how much he can take, but Roy knows. He sees Electrocutioner in front of his eyes once again. He sees Lian's corpse.

Dick and he understood each other during their leadership of the Outsiders. He remembers Dick holding him at gunpoint. Remembers hating Nightwing and looking up at him at once because Dick can pretend to be made of light and everything beautiful in a way Roy cannot. They are broken, all of them – the League, the Titans, and the Outsiders, even the Society, but they keep walking. They stay alive.

In his mind’s eye, his knives dig into flesh until the floor is blood-red until the sick fuck is ripped to shreds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roy was not suggested by anyone but Kory would definitely involve him in her rescue mission and writing this made me realize how much more sense Red Hood/Arsenal would have made before N52 happened. Like... Roy gutted a guy and Morisson!Jason was mad shit cray cray.
> 
> And yeah, as Bruce said in regards to soul bonds: _platonic love was often the cause of circumstances_


	5. Slade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to all of the people, that have commented since the start of the story! :D
> 
> Warnings: Graphic Descriptions of (abusive) Violence!

His initial shock has turned into satisfaction.

Grayson is his, has always been his. If they had known earlier, things might be different. He could have forgiven the extension of his soul for taking Rose. His soulmate could not take from him. Soulmates could only add to each other.

Blue eyes stare at him, their defiance breaking down more with every new surge of blood bubbling out of his mouth. Grayson has the hardest time waking when Slade targets the mark directly, although it makes his captive instantly aware as to who is visiting him.

He pulls the sword back out, a lot slower than he did the first time and watches the wound close. Their soul marks are burning and slithering under their skin like living things.

Grayson’s gasps are wet, his hands bound to robe high above his head and feet dangling over the ground.

They have been at it for weeks and Slade can feel the hero's soul fraying and ripping at the edges. But Grayson has not even started to beg, he is far from breaking.

The closest he comes is when he skims his lips over the mark; when Grayson is in his arms and their souls merge to completion. Only then, he feels what he should be feeling.

Even the last wisps of Jericho's influence on his soul are purged, but the moment goes by and everything comes back. Grayson shares no more, but a tear with him, eyes alive with a pain Slade cannot feel, but knows hurts the hero more than any action he could ever hope to take.

He has to thank Bruce. Caught at the fortress in cryosleep, he can be with his twin soul to his heart’s content. There is nothing to distract him, and he is stronger through it. His whole focus is on Grayson and by now he can influence the weakening mind when the boy is not sleeping, albeit far subtler.

He gasps awake, ripped from the spectacle that is Grayson’s morphing expression from love to hate, the illusion of a cozy midwinter cuddle in front of the chimney broken by pinning his arm to the glowing embers. A knee to his jaw makes him reel, and then he is dragged out of his frozen cell.

Harper does not waste a second to pierce his heart the same way he has done to Grayson more than a dozen times. Then, another knife comes down on him, breaking through his throat. Red Hood stands above him.

He can feel the familiar heat of a star bolt forming in Starfire’s palm and the little Al'Ghul raises his sword.

Maybe he is a tiny bit impressed. Maybe he imagines Grayson cradling his undamaged arm to his chest, utterly alone and with the fear in his clear sky blue eyes that he keeps hidden from Slade.


	6. Cassandra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally forgot to upload yesterday. Sorry.  
> A big thank you for the kudos and the comments!

She cannot stay with Dick even if she wishes to.

His pain makes her anxious, makes her hands tremble. She feels it all around her.

But when Damian leaves with Starfire and Dick gets worse in a way they do not expect to be possible, she crashes into his room like special ops through a window.

Deathstroke has done bad things to her. Dick has been distrustful of her because Deathstroke used her. His behavior, then, has never stopped hurting her even if she understands it. Dick told her about the fights the Titans had and still have against the mercenary. When she looks over what remains of Blüdhaven, she understands and hurts again and again.

She is his little sister and he is her big brother _and they are trying_.

Dick is dreaming, pain written all over his face and sweat clinging to his skin. The soul mark glows so brightly, Cass can see it through the blanket.

His lips are moving, but no sound escapes and she watches in horror as bruises take form around his throat.

She has fought Deathstroke to a standstill, might even win on a good day, has won with Bruce by her side, to get him into the fortress but she cannot fight this.

Not killing is her healing, but even she cannot reason his survival with Dick's eternal torture. She keeps Bruce on his toes even if she does not join Damian and Starfire.

Raven squeezes her shoulder, both of them too emphatic for their own good, and she wonders if killing Slade will hurt Dick more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cass was affected so much by Slade pre-N52 as well; I just had to include her.


	7. Raven

"Wait!" her soul-self cries.

Kory is so used to listen to her, she just stops. Damian does not, the sword in his hand pierces through Deathstroke's stomach.

Maybe that is beneficial.

With all the blood coating the floor one might expect the mercenary to be in pain, instead, she can feel the loathing and the satisfaction. She does not hesitate to wonder what it means. Deathstroke has always been strong, too strong even when they expected him to be weak.

Raven does not let herself feel. She engulfs his mind like she has done before and can feel Dick as if her soul-self is still with him half a world away. For a second she believes to be back in her body, it nearly throws her away from Deathstroke.

Beneath all the pain and fear is a small sliver of care for the soulmate he could never have. Raven craves to cradle it in her hands and connect it to any other soul in this room but her power is not limitless. Still, death is not an option. The others are blinded by their rage and she has to do what they cannot.

She feels along the bond. With only one part fighting her and the other dormant but trusting of her presence, she can brush through it, rip it apart through the power of her own soul.

Cassandra is a quiet presence beside her body but the souls of the others scream in a sickening triumph.

Maybe they did not get what they wanted but they see a broken man. The rebound had to be pushed in one of two directions and the choice was easy.

Her soul-self slams back into her body, exhausted and she is caught by two bats instead of one.

Dick smiles, his hands are warm on her shoulders but his sorrow reaches deep.


	8. Dick

He feels the echo of Slade's soul.

By now his mindscape is familiar and he feels the remains of the golden light. Its warmth fills him with wonder. What if Slade had still been capable of love? If they had realized who they were to each other after Joey's death or even during his time as Renegade?

He dreams about the man he could have loved instead of the one that had been the cause of Blüdhaven’s destruction and half his family's sorrows.

His soulmark is disappearing more every day. It does not look like the burned out white on Roy’s chest.

Damian returns. He flips Bruce the bird when he does not want to let Kory in. They visit Gotham’s public gardens for a picnic. Cass and Raven join them, Alfred’s sandwiches in tow. Together they look up into the sky, following the flight route of Roy’s and Jay’s plane as it leaves a white stripe against the blue sky.

Dick does not cry but it is a near thing, leaning against Kory he cannot find any fault in it. Everything is well, even Bruce wrings out a smile when they return to the manor forced to open the door to all of them by Alfred.

Someday when he is strong enough and his wounds have scarred, he'll venture through the Antarctic to Clark's fortress and speak to what remains of Slade. But that is far into the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a lot harder to write tiny fragments. Big story's tent to occupy the brain every free minute but I straight out forgot about this from time to time. It was honestly kind of refreshing.
> 
> A big thank you to everyone who left comments, kudos or bookmarked this little story!


End file.
